Federal Reports

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

During this semiannual reporting period, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) completed the Congressionally mandated NEA financial statement audit for fiscal year (FY) 2024, and a performance audit of the Georgia Council for the Arts. We also collaborated with the NEA on the follow-up process required by the Office of Management and Budget, leading to corrective actions on eight OIG recommendations by the NEA and awardees during this period. Additionally, we resolved all hotline complaints received during the semiannual reporting period.

I applaud the NEA and the OIG staff for continuing to press forward and effectively work together to deliver our respective missions in a high-quality manner. The value-added work that the NEA and OIG accomplished this period is due to their commitment, leadership, and effectiveness; while helping to ensure integrity, excellence, and value in the delivery of NEA’s mission.

The Office of Inspector General is issuing this management advisory to gain an understanding of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) servicing processes and determine its capability to service more than 2 million COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

We found the COVID-19 EIDL Servicing Center (CESC) demonstrated that it was capable of servicing over 2 million COVID EIDLs during the period of our review. The CESC appeared to be adequately staffed as evidenced by its ability to complete over 23,500 servicing actions per month with an average processing time of 5.44 days per action. However, we identified opportunities for improvement related to formal documentation and issuance of performance goals and written COVID-19 EIDL servicing guidance.

We made two recommendations for SBA to ensure appropriate processes are followed and to effectively monitor CESC operations. SBA management agreed with both recommendations and has taken actions to implement both. Management’s actions satisfy the intent of the recommendations; therefore, both recommendations will be closed upon issuance of this report.

We evaluated FNS’ fraud risk assessment process for SNAP EBT and the design and implementation of its strategy to mitigate fraud risks.